Pellet Fan
Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits => GMG => Topic started by: reubenray on April 02, 2019, 11:48:56 AM
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After 3+ years of no issues with my DB I had a big one today. I first thought something was wrong when the temperature would not get above 80. Then I thought it may have been due to the ambient temperature was around 50. So I went inside to give it more time. When I went out it was smoking crazy. I opened up the lid and more smoke poured out. This is when I shut it down. Once I got through all the smoke I got it apart and the firepot was overflowing with pellets and the middle of the pellets was smoking. At this time I dug out my Traeger Junior out of the motorhome to put the ribs on.
Once everything cooled down I started to dig out the partially burned pellets out of the firepot. I have read about this before, but I cannot remember what the cause and fix is.
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Too much ash in the firepot is blocking up the holes that blow air into the fire. The pellets just keeping dumping in.
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I have had mine close to 5 years and have not had this happen. I would think Bar-B-Lew could have an idea. It could be a fan not working, or a bad sensor or the controller malfunction. I personally would start with the easiest stuff first. Clean fire pot and make sure the fan is spinning freely. If that is not a factor, I would think that I would start replacing the sensor and the control board after that. Somehow, the controller thought it needed more pellets to get more heat when the fire was not going, figuring out why is the hard part. Good luck.
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I only know from experience on my Traeger and my MAK. Same thing happened on each.
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I forgot to mention that I cleaned it and vacuum the firepot out yesterday. The fan was blowing smoke everywhere.
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I forgot to mention that I cleaned it and vacuum the firepot out yesterday. The fan was blowing smoke everywhere.
Have you tried lighting it again since? Computers sometimes just need a good reboot!
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No, but I plan on doing it tomorrow with nothing in it to see what happens.
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That is called a "flame-out". Happens mostly at lower temps. Causes are: too much ash in the pot, controller failing to message the auger for enough pellets that allows the fire to burn out. On some controllers there is an adjustment such as the P setting on the older Traeger units, that if set too high would deliver insufficient pellets to keep the fire going in smoke mode. The fire would go out and the pellets trickle in. Another possibility is pellet bridging where the pellets clump together over the auger and block their way to the auger. Longer pellets are more prone to this. Then after this pellet cavitation, vibration or a jolt breaks up the pellets that are then fed into an unlit pot..Just a good thing that you didn't try to restart w/ that accumulation of pellets... Is this a wifi controlled pit? That could be another story.
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That is called a "flame-out". Happens mostly at lower temps. Causes are: too much ash in the pot, controller failing to message the auger for enough pellets that allows the fire to burn out. On some controllers there is an adjustment such as the P setting on the older Traeger units, that if set too high would deliver insufficient pellets to keep the fire going in smoke mode. The fire would go out and the pellets trickle in. Another possibility is pellet bridging where the pellets clump together over the auger and block their way to the auger. Longer pellets are more prone to this. Then after this pellet cavitation, vibration or a jolt breaks up the pellets that are then fed into an unlit pot..Just a good thing that you didn't try to restart w/ that accumulation of pellets... Is this a wifi controlled pit? That could be another story.
No, it is not a wifi controlled smoker. There was a clump of burned pellets that I dug out of the firepot.
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I have called GMG help center with some issues I've had. They're very knowledgable and willing to answer all of my questions I asked. Give em a call. Couldn't hurt.
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I second the call to GMG. You never know what may become of it, and it is free.
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I checked this today without anything in it. No deflector or heat shields., grates, etc. It did the same thing as yesterday. It dumped pellets and the fire kept getting bigger until I turned it off. I tried to watch the pellets being dumped, but the smoke got to bad. Should I have had the heat deflector in it? It seems to me like it is dumping to many pellets, but what do I know.
I am leaving for a month long trip in a few days, so I will contact GMG when I get back.
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You should not need the heat deflector in initially. I start my Blazn manually because it has no hot rod, and I have not experienced the issue you are having. Seems to me something in the controller isn't functioning properly. I would call GMG and walk them through both of your recent experiences.
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I would not rule out the sensor either. I am just guessing, but it seems like if it is sending cold temp readings back to the controller, it is going to keep dumping pellets to make a bigger fire to heat it up. Maybe GMG has a trouble shooting method that can rule something out.
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See Texasbrew's comments in this thread (https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=3814.msg46038#msg46038).
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I contacted GMG and they had me check for any burnt or melted parts of the combustion fan. There were not any. They then had me check to see if the fans were working. They were, but GMG still thinks the issue is with the combustion fans. By the time I sent the last email they must have closed. I will find out more info tomorrow.
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That's what my issue was. (combustion fan). Fixed mine.
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That's what my issue was. (combustion fan). Fixed mine.
How hard will this be to replace it?
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That's what my issue was. (combustion fan). Fixed mine.
How hard will this be to replace it?
GMG video
https://youtu.be/GCh0ITeRroE
Mudflap
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Hardest part was gettin this old carcass down on the pavement on my back to unscrew it. :rotf:
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I was in the middle of cook last week and ran the pellet hopper out. That's what I get for putting a piece of tape over the sensor. To make a long story short , after I added pellets and refired it, it was taking forever to get hot. I took everything out of the grill, brisket, rack, drip tray, racks, and the heat shield. I could see the hot rod was glowing and pellet were burning but the fire box as filled with a lot of ash. I wondered what I could use to clean some of it out. I grabbed a garden trowel and scooped some of it out and just put it with the rest of the ash on the bottom of the grill as I didn't want to put it in the trash due possible small burning embers yet. Combustion fan was still running and it blew some of the ash out also. I replaced everything and it proceeded to get back up to temp rather quickly. Lost about a 45 minutes when it was all said and done.
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I have replaced 3 (on others units), it will not be an issue if you have to replace it!
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Hardest part was gettin this old carcass down on the pavement on my back to unscrew it. :rotf:
This will be the hardest part for me also. I may have to drink a few beers before I work on it. :)
Being I am leaving in a few days for a month I will wait until I get back to do the fan swapout. GMG sent me a discount code for 50% off of the fan.
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After being on a trip for a month I finally got the new fan installed. It works like a charm now. I was surprised how fast the start up steps go plus how fast it gets to high temperatures now. I guess the bad fan has been going bad for a while.